Do you have some questions about lucid dreaming or interested in learning how to do it? Well, in this post I’ll discuss how you can learn how to have lucid dreams, the benefits of lucid dreaming, a few interesting facts, how to control them, if lucid dreaming could be dangerous, and what mistakes people make when they first try lucid dreaming. I strongly believed I’ve had a lucid dream before, but I haven’t had a real vivid dream in a long time. Lucid dreaming can be a wonderful thing to experience, but it can be frightening as well. You may reconsider how to lucid dream, once you learn what dangers you could possibly face. Will the benefits outweigh the dangers? Well, I guess you’ll have to continue reading to find out.
Now, if you made it passed the introduction, I’d have to assume you’re interested in learning how to lucid dream. First, you’ll need to understand what lucid dream is. A lucid dream is a dream where you’re complete aware that you’re dreaming and able to control what happens in the dream. If you really want to learn how to lucid dream, you’ll have to commit to it; otherwise, you may find it difficult or impossible to achieve if you don’t allow yourself some time everyday to develop this ability. A good way to start is either reading books or articles on lucid dream to understand the subject better and mentally prepare yourself for your first experience. You’re actually on your way because you’re doing it now by reading this blog post. There are three things that will help newbies get started with this: write your dreams down in a dream journal every morning, do at least several reality checks in your waking life, and meditate for at least ten minutes (especially helpful before bed time). Those small three steps are helpful because they help you realize when you’re dreaming, more observant of your waking life, and helps you remember your dreams more vividly. Herbal supplements may be helpful in aiding you to have lucid dreams, but it isn’t necessary and you can learn to do it without them. Raising the levels of Melatonin can help with lucid dreaming, so here are ways you can do that: going to bed and waking up at the same time; sleeping in a completely dark room; and eating foods like light or dark mustard, almonds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, and cherries. Pay attention to certain object will help you with realizing that you’re dreaming, since most of the time they’ll appear blurry in your dreams; especially items such as watches, mirrors, and book titles. “Set your alarm to go off half an hour earlier than normal. Set you alarm a bit earlier than you need to, so you can go back to sleep because you more likely interrupted the REM phase of sleep.” (How To Lucid Dream Tonight – 8 Ways To Hack Your Sleep). Also, eating a proper diet, getting between 7-9 hours of sleep, relaxing, and exercising regularly can help with lucid dreaming.
You may question if there’s actually benefits to lucid dreaming; well, there is and it’s about time we discussed them. As your lucid dreams become more vivid with practice, you’ll discover you’ll live out our wildest fantasies. You could try sky-diving, flying, being a hero, or kissing your crush. If you have insomnia lucid dreaming will be able to help with it, since your able to control your dreams nightmare will happen less frequently and improve the quality of your sleep. Some people have used lucid dreaming to solve their real life problems, you can try out different solutions without any repercussions. If you’re having trouble at home with a spouse, a friend, or a coworker you could try out different scenarios in your dreams to find out the answer to your problems. You can learn more about yourself and dreams with lucid dreaming. For example, you can discover that dreams are a combination of verbal, visual, and emotional stimulation that develops into a plot or story. You can learn more about yourself because it might reveal what you secretly fear or hidden emotions, but you will discover for yourself how you can overcome them with lucid dreaming.
There are some facts you may find interesting about lucid dream, which I’m going to cover next. A study that was done in Germany showed that 82% of the people who participated explained they had at least one lucid dream in their life; Another study done in 2008 in Japan showed 19% of dreamers had one or more lucid dreams a month. Those two studies prove that if you want to have a lucid dream, it will eventually happen for you. Did you know you can pick what you would like to dream about before going to bed? A method to doing this is trying to visualize it in your mind by using pictures to help you memorize vivid scenes, paintings, scents, or phrases. Your brain is actually affected differently between regular dreams and lucid dreams. “In a 2009 study, scientists found that brainwaves of lucid dreamers were different than regular dreamers. In fact, they found that lucid dreaming is an altered state of consciousness with measurable differences from normal dreaming or being awake.” (Laura Allan, 15 Things You Need To Know If You Want To Try Lucid Dreaming). You’re able to use your lucid dreams as a tool to help you quit your bad habits. Some people claimed that they have used lucid dreaming to quit their bad habit such as smoking; They smoke a pack of cigarettes when lucid dreaming, so they don’t feel the need to do it when they’re awake. It’s possible to have more than one lucid dream in a single night. Since lucid dreams usually just last several seconds at a time, if you practice enough you’ll be able to have several lucid dreams within a nights’ sleep. Some experts in lucid dreaming stated they were able to have no more than five lucid dreams within a single sleep cycle. I’ve already mentioned what foods you can eat in greater quantities, now I’m going to talk about what foods you can eat in less quantity to help with lucid dreaming. Eating rice, oats, red radishes, tomatoes, and bananas in smaller amounts will boost melatonin and help with lucid dreaming. If you want to learn more facts on lucid dreaming, the link will be at the end of this post.
Since we covered some interesting facts about lucid dreaming, we should go over how you can control these dreams. People who suffer from chronic nightmares can benefit from learning how to lucid dream, since they’ll be able to fend of nightmares. If they would find themselves in a nightmarish situation in a lucid dream, they can change the outcome themselves to find an escape. I remember Shane Dawson mentioning one of the ways to do this is to jump or fall, since it will cause you to wake up. A few months ago I had this lucid dream I had driven off the side of a mountain to escape something, when I was falling I felt myself trying to wake up; I tried to stay in the dream and managed to do so, so it’s actually possible to keep yourself from leaving the dream if you feel yourself starting to slip from it. There are apps you can download on your smartphone that can help with lucid dreaming; two of the apps are Dreamz and SHADOW. With some of the apps that are available you can record a reminder that will after you’ve been sleeping for a while telling you that you’re dreaming. There’s four simple and easy things techniques you should do once you start having a lucid dream, which are: studying the palm of your hands, remind yourself you’re dreaming by saying either “I’m dreaming” or “clarity now”, sense how your body will feel when moving by spinning around, and sense the felling of friction by massaging your hands together. Try to stay calm and explore the scene in front of you, once you know and feel you’re completely stabilized within the dream.
Now, you may wonder if there’s a possibility that lucid dream could actually be dangerous in anyway. I actually haven’t experienced much of the negative sides to lucid dreaming so far. It’s really not that dangerous, but there’s the possibility that lucid dreaming could have a negative affect on you. One, some people end up having a hard time sensing between what’s real and just a dream. They might believe what they dreamed had actually happened; remembering to preform reality checks will help from happening, if you do it often or every-time you have a lucid dream. It’s possible you could become addicted to lucid dreaming. You might try to sleep every chance you get, but if you get too addicted to it just stop doing the reality checks and writing down your dreams in a journal to break it. It’s possible you could encounter some spirits while lucid dreaming, when I do this it’s never a good thing…I always encounter the demon. “It needs to be mentioned as one of the dangers of Lucid Dreaming though, because some people claim to have a Lucid dream and become really scared by their experiences and claim to have met spiritual entities who caused them harm in the dream and distressed them in reality.” (The Dangerous Side Of Lucid Dreaming Uncovered). I can strongly relate to that statement, but if it’s a dead relative or friend I believe you should be safe to communicate with them while lucid dreaming. If you use certain techniques, you might have a hard time trying to wake up; I would suggest trying another technique if this occurs. You may become distant from other people, develop a phobia of sleeping because of lucid dreaming, and may find it hard to stop lucid dream just to name a few more. There are some small or very minor dangers I didn’t cover, so if you want to know them all you’ll have to click the link at the end of the post.
Some people make mistakes when lucid dreaming, which I’ll be covering now. One mistake people make when learning to lucid dream is failing to commit, so if you strongly want to learn how to do it you must commit to it. It may take as little as 2 days to have your first lucid dream, but it could end up being 2 months before having your first lucid dream; it just depends on the person. Another mistake is that they’re trying too hard, I bet you didn’t expect to see this one. Well, there’s a saying about lucid dreaming, which is ‘Practice lucid dreaming mindfully – or not at all.’ (Rebecca Turner, 10 Mistakes Made by Beginner Lucid Dreamers). You must be relax when trying out different methods and know that you can’t force yourself to have a lucid you; as long you stay calm and relaxed before bed, it will happen eventually. If your not able to recall your dreams, then this could be a problem; since being able to recall your dreams is an important part of lucid dreaming. The intensity or yourself awareness in your dreams will rise significantly with excellent dream recall, so make sure you write down your dream in a journal for this to happen. People who are in the process of learning to lucid dream will commonly make the mistake of not stabilizing their dreams, since often will get excited and cause them to wake up suddenly. The most important thing to do is just to try and stay calm, once you realize your dream and enjoy your surroundings. One major mistake people make while experiencing lucid dreams is that they ignore themselves while dreaming and think lucid dream is about self control when its not. Lucid dreaming is about learning more about your ‘lucid dreaming self’, since there are some questions you can ask yourself and become more aware of your true self in the process. These are just some of the mistake people make, if you want to read more about the link will be down at the end.
Well, this is it. We went over how to lucid dream, the benefits, some interesting facts, how to control them, if it could be potentially dangerous, and some mistakes people make when first learning how to lucid dream. All the resources to the information I used to make this will be linked down below, if you’re interesting in checking them out. If you’re interested in learning about other paranormal topics or have suggestions for me, then please feel free to post them in the comments section below.
Resources:
- How to Have Your First Lucid Dream: http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/how-to-have-your-first-lucid-dream.html
- How To Lucid Dream Tonight – 8 Ways To Hack Your Sleep: http://get-a-wingman.com/how-to-lucid-dream-tonight-8-ways-to-hack-your-sleep/
- The Ways to Control Dreaming: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/04/the-ways-to-control-dreaming/360032/
- 5 FACTS ABOUT HOW DREAMS AND LUCID DREAMING COULD CHANGE YOUR LIFE: https://astrologyanswers.com/article/5-facts-about-dreams-and-lucid-dreaming-that-could-change-your-life/
- 15 Things You Need To Know If You Want To Try Lucid Dreaming: https://www.ranker.com/list/what-is-lucid-dreaming/laura-allan?var=2&utm_expid=16418821-322.OW_JXwpwRv6TKZPZq3pKRw.1
- The Dangerous Side Of Lucid Dreaming Uncovered: http://howtolucid.com/is-lucid-dreaming-dangerous/
- 10 Mistakes Made by Beginner Lucid Dreamers: http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/10-mistakes-made-by-beginner-lucid-dreamers.html
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